Gaming's most disturbing moments

Mario games aren’t exactly known for their deep, emotive narratives, but Super Mario Galaxy had a rather darkly heart-wrenching tale hidden between the lines of the storybook chronicling Princess Rosalina’s journey through the cosmos. There’s repeated imagery of a tree on a hill, under which Rosalina would sleep, or play, or star gaze. And while there’s a recurring theme throughout the story of her missing her family, particularly her mother, it’s only towards the end of the game that you find a chapter in which Rosalina says she always knew her mother wasn’t really out there among the stars, because ‘she’s sleeping under the tree on the hill’. So the plot to one of the most joyous, colourful, exuberant platform games of all time is really about a girl mourning for, and coming to terms with, the loss of her mother. When the realisation dawns, it’s both a little unsettling and incredibly heartfelt.